The List
by SyonaKeleste
Summary: An addition to his to-do list causes Tatsumi to reevaluate his attitude towards Watari. TatWat. Complete, now, but you can still leave reviews. Please?
1. The List Ch 1

Disclaimer: I am not Matsushita Yoko; I do not own Yami no Matsuei or any part thereof. It's a sad world.

* * *

"Tatsumi-san!" was the terrifyingly cheerful greeting accompanying an enthusiastic knock on the secretary's office door. Yuma knocked again, still with no response, but she peeked in nevertheless, as co-workers, somehow, often failed to notice their knocking.

"Well, we can still leave a note!" remarked Saya brightly when she turned around with a shrug.

"Right! I'm sure there's a piece of scrap paper around his desk." Yuma noted, moving in towards the room's most prominent piece of furniture.

"Here's paper."

"That looks like a to-do list. There're several things crossed off."

Yuma giggled, having suddenly assumed a mysterious expression. A bad omen.

"What do you think he'd do if we added to it?"

"No way! Tatsumi can be scary!"

"This is how one _finds out_ what senses of humor one's superiors have," Yuma explained. "Hmm…all the entries are short… 'Payroll.'"

"'Review expense accounts.'"

"'Lunch.'"

Saya and Yuma looked at each other in disbelief.

"See? Scary!"

"What kind of man puts 'Lunch' on a to-do list?"

"I'll bet he'd be lost without this thing."

A pause. Pink, balloon-like hearts began to drift lazily through the windows, popping in the cooler air of the dark office.

"Sooo, what should we add?"

"Umm… 'Sort paperclips by size'?"

"He's probably done that already." Yuma noted with as serious a face as possible. "'Order Kurosaki to wear sundress'?"

"He'd _know_ who wrote _that_! Hm… 'Make Tsuzuki balance muffin on head.'"

"Saya, you're mean!"

"Awaaah! I just thought it would be cute! How about 'Hug Tsuzuki,' then?"

"I don't think Tsuzuki's his type." Yuma replied with a wink.

"Oh, you're awful! Fine, then." Said Saya, gleaming eyes accepting the implied matchmaker's challenge. "'Seduce Watari.'"

"No! I don't want to die! He'd kill us!" Yuma gasped out, giggling madly. "But it's perfect!"

_As long as he _never _figures out who added it to the list_ passed the silent comment in a dangerously giddy nervous glance between them.

"Write quickly, and let's get out before he comes back to cross off 'Lunch'."

"Wait—what about the note?"

"We can't leave it _now_—he'd know who had been in his office. We'll be sure to run into him later."

"Okay. And besides, we have to see what happens!"

The energetic Hokkaido duo crept toward the door, trying vainly to stifle its latest outbreak of giggles while peering to see if the hallway was clear.

"By the way, Saya…how is it you're so good at reproducing handwriting?"

"Well, I…umm, was that Hisoka-chan just now?" replied Saya, quickly heading out the office door.

The heart balloons followed them out.


	2. The List Ch 2

Of course he had been irritated to find an entry in his to-do list that he hadn't written himself. Tatsumi was normally left out of the office's daily little pranks, not concerning himself as long as they kept everyone relaxed and didn't hinder productivity. This was an intrusion into his function in the office, and, by its content, into his personal life as well—he would have the head of whoever had presumed to add to his list.

Unfortunately, dignity prevented him from challenging anyone with an accusation unless he was sure of the culprit. He knew who wouldn't have done it: Kurosaki, entirely respectful; Terazuma, habitually keeping as far from the office's petty gags as possible; Konoe or the Gushoshin—no; Watari himself…while he was certainly capable of inflicting ridiculous ploys on others in the name of science, Tatsumi knew him to be far more direct in personal matters. Had Watari any interest, he would most likely make a straightforward, discreet approach.

At least, that was how Tatsumi thought of the man. Who knew how he would act while pursuing a romantic affair? In the nearly thirty years they'd worked together, Tatsumi had never known him to do so, actually…

He'd never thought of that before.

But flattering as the thought was, Watari was not a suspect. That left Wakaba, Tsuzuki, and the visiting Hokkaido pair. The former two had been in the staff room behind stacks of paperwork when last he'd seen them, though they had taken a moment to smile and chat guiltlessly, and he hadn't seen the latter pair all day, though presumably they were chasing Kurosaki, also missing, around the Meifu.

"Alright, turn off your computer. I'll take a look at the hard drive."

Tatsumi spun to face his door. Oh, right. He had asked the resident computer expert to check over his office machine—files had started to go missing recently, and unpleasant grinding noises suggested that the machine was either dying or transforming into a belt sander.

As Watari strode in purposefully, rolling the sleeves of his labcoat, Tatsumi stood up a little too abruptly, sending his chair spinning a meter to the left and earning a suspicious glance from Watari. Stilling and sitting in his vacated chair, the scientist removed the ancient machine's monitor and began unfastening the outer cover, Tatsumi watching dexterous fingers move almost lovingly over the computer's inner components as he worked. He didn't want to draw attention as the thought of those fingers bore heat to his cheeks, so of course he chose that moment to clear his throat.

"Hm?"

"Nothing."

A few minutes more passed in silence.

"This hard drive is coming out of its tracks. If you want to keep using the computer, and I'd say it'll last another year at most at its age, I'd suggest you back up all your files and let me replace the drive."

"Ah. I see. Do you have another one on hand?"

"Yes. It'll take a few hours to transfer your data to the server, and then I can switch them."

"How long exactly? I can't do this week's payroll without that computer."

"With the data transferred, you can access it from another computer. It will take until the end of the day to complete the repair work." Watari didn't look up from the computer, reminding Tatsumi how driven he was when involved in his specialty. Like the secretary himself, he knew many things but lived for one field. Someone that single-minded would be more direct. Of course.

At Tatsumi's continued silence and distracted look Watari added, "The Gushoshin might be able to lend you one of the library's laptops for the afternoon."

"Thank you. I'll see about that immediately." He turned and exited abruptly, leaving Watari to stare at his back.

Nearly one hundred years of keeping a crisply laundered suit and rimmed spectacles a cool barrier between inner and outer circumstances had not prepared him for sudden dissatisfaction with both.


	3. The List Ch 3

            Having borrowed a portable computer from the library and sat down at one of its tables, Tatsumi realized belatedly that he could do nothing productive until the data from his office machine's hard drive had uploaded.

            Watari would have told him that, had he been given the chance. 

            He could, if he wished, blame his unaccountable rudeness on technological ineptitude.  A reasonable, if not most pride-sparing, course of action would be to go back to the office, apologize, and find something useful to do.  True, there was nothing; he had been planning to tackle the payroll when the computer had crashed this morning.  A restart successfully brought it back on-line, but files were missing and he hadn't wanted to take chances, so he had filed all the loose paperwork under his responsibility after calling in Watari.

             Satisfaction in efficiency notwithstanding, it was rather annoying to have to sit around with his own thoughts for the next two hours or more.  Foremost, given his unwarranted reactions earlier, the time should _most_ logically be assigned to thinking over his relationship with the person habitual caution was loudly telling him to avoid.  "Don't want to" was a luxury afforded only (occasionally) to those under his command.

             In the silence of the library, he reluctantly allowed his thoughts to settle on his partner—as much of a confidant as Tatsumi had ever allowed, never seeking more detail than he had been willing to provide.  Just as protective of his friends' emotional freedoms as he was of their bodies and minds.  Tatsumi was a perfect dampener to his at times overreaching enthusiasm; Watari kept him from becoming detached from his humanity.  The only person around whom he was not forced to restrain himself, Watari yelled back when they argued a point, never crumbling or begging for mercy.  They complemented each other well. 

             Had Watari been there, he might have noted that his partner was yet again overrationalizing.  In truth, there was an immediate attraction to the blonde that didn't stem from his personality, but Tatsumi still bristled at the to-do list's implication that his intentions were less than pure.

             _The hell they aren't_, a part of his psyche beginning to sound like his partner informed him.  _There's a grand total of eighty years of sexual frustration between us._

             He had the next two hours.  Wasn't it like him as well to be open and direct in seeking a relationship?  Why should it be anyone else's responsibility?

"Uh…"  He paused at the door of the library.

             How would Watari do this?


	4. The List Ch 4

            Watari had already left, having set the computer to upload, when Tatsumi swung open the office door, stepping resolutely in.  He was only momentarily disoriented.

            Creeping into the lab with his partner's back turned to him, he attempted to quell a surge of mischief brought on by terror, mostly succeeding.  Watari was just setting down a test tube in its rack, about to turn around, when he placed his hands firmly on the shorter man's shoulders.

            "Tatsumi-san?" asked Watari after a pause, tense at the touch.

            "Would you like to try an experiment?" he breathed, tickling the scientist's ear.

            "A..whuh?" 

            He traced delicate lines down from Watari's shoulders over his coat to his hands.  Tatsumi moved around to face his partner, keeping Watari's hands in his own.

            "Watari…san…I apologize for my abrupt departure earlier."

            "Okaaaaayy…"

            "Actually, I would like to spend more time with you."

            "Are you ill?"

            "Is it still possible that you might be free this evening…"

            "Where is Tatsumi?" 

            By this point Watari was backing toward a wall, Tatsumi forced to follow via the forgotten grip on the scientist's hand.  It was not a promising situation, he noted.  Boundaries had clearly been exceeded, and he should retreat before a friendship was irreparably compromised.  Tatsumi stepped back from the wide-eyed scientist, turning around and fixing his tie to hide his embarrassment.

            "Watari-san, I—"

            "If you're going to hit on me, at least call me by my given name, _Seiichirou_."  Watari sounded annoyed, but the secretary could see signs of nervousness in his eyes as he again faced his partner.  A pause stretched the distance between them as Tatsumi weighed whether he should admit to what he had been doing or allow things to return to normal.

            "Yutaka."  Watari had closed the distance between them when a bubble of some noxious mixture in one test tube chose that moment to pop audibly, startling the two men in an already heightened atmosphere.  Tatsumi blurted, "Do you have any interest in—"

            "Yes."  Watari cut him off, threw both arms close about his neck, and kissed him hard, quickly, shock from the sudden encounter registering in their faces as they pulled apart, the brief kiss awful but…maniacally exhilarating.

            "I request a retesting."

            "Your request is being processed." Tatsumi returned as he pulled the blonde into an embrace of arms and mouths.

            "I was…"

            Propriety tried feebly to reassert itself somewhat later, arguing that the basis of a relationship should not change from staff room chatter to assistance in removing one another's clothing in the space of an afternoon.

            "Hmmmmm…."

            "….thinking…."

            THUD.

            "…we should…"

            "Mmph."

            "…get to know each…you're not making this easier…."

            CRASH.

            "…other better…"

            "…mmmhmmm…"

            "…over dinner tonight…take it slow…"

            As the table he was pressed against rocked abruptly enough for an Erlenmeyer flask—thankfully empty—to fall off and shatter, Watari looked up with blistering indistinctness into his partner's eyes.

            "Your place or mine?" he asked in a low, rough voice.

            "Yutaka, I hardly…" Tatsumi began raggedly, failing utterly to project a cool aura with hair in disarray, face flushed, shirt untucked and open.

            "You're a terrible liar, and we've known each other twenty-seven years."  Watari breathed against his mouth, eyes closed.

            Tatsumi blinked once, trying to regain clarity against the events of the afternoon.  What he found was the man in his arms, breathing erratically, eyes intently unfocused upon his.  He drew arms tight around Watari, one at his waist, one at his shoulder pulling him close, and as he teleported them both, lips descending once more to his partner's, he uttered one word.

            "Mine."


	5. The List Ch 5

            A hard surface against Watari's back caused him to break the kiss.

            "Um…doorway?"

            "Sorry.  Distracted."  Looking sheepish, Tatsumi led his partner the last three feet into the bedroom.  Watari stopped short.

            "How…economical."

            "It was, at the time, the most efficient use of money and space."

            "Your poor feet."

            "Pardon?"

            "Unless you sleep diagonally…"

            The men slowly looked at each other as he trailed off, remembering for what purpose they had come.  "But it'll do." Watari noted, disentangling himself, from Tatsumi's arms.  He sat on the bed, coyly glancing at the secretary through his hair while peeling off his gloves.

The effect was only somewhat disrupted by an audible creak.

Tatsumi cleared his throat, sitting beside him, at which the bed protested loudly.  Watari looked up at the sound.

            "We'll tell the neighbor it was a poltergeist."

            "Who lives next to you?"

            "Terazuma."  Watari facefaulted.  "Just kidding."

            The next moment Tatsumi couldn't see and realized it was due to the labcoat over his head.  His shoes were summarily removed, feet lifted and tickled until he had no recourse but to fall back onto the bed, giving Watari chance to straddle him before pulling off the labcoat.  In the process Watari's own shoes had gone missing.

            With fifty years' encouragement, he flipped the slighter man onto his back, pressing him into the mattress, where both became very aware of the situation.  A few passionate minutes brought them back to practical matters.

            "Yutaka, how do I go about removing this spandex object?"

"There's a zipper in the back."

A pause, and then "You're pretty flexible."  Watari grinned meaningfully.  And blushed a bit when he realized he'd been completely stripped in a matter of seconds.

"No fair.  I'm not sleeping with a man in a three-piece suit.  Vest.  Off.  _Now_."

"I live to serve." 

Watari made a sudden movement. 

"And I happen to need those buttons."

      "You need…"

      "Mm?"

      "…to prioritize."

      "I think I've found a weakness."

      "Hn?"  Watari paused in the process of destroying his partner's belt.  "Aaaah!  No!"

      "No?  You mean not…this…?"  Tatsumi's normally serious tones slid with dangerous mischief.

      "Vengeance is mine." Watari whimpered.

      "Oh?..Ah!"

      A low chuckle reverberated against Tatsumi's neck.

      "Ow!  Elbow!" Watari complained.  "Aa-aaah!"

"Better?"

"Mmmm."

            "Yutaka?  Move your hand."

            "Now why would I want to be doing that?"

            "I would say you're in a precarious position."

            A pause.  "How about a more precarious position, if you don't mind?"

            Another.  "Request granted."

            "Mmm…ah….Seiichirou!  We forgot one thing…!"

            "There's hand lotion on the nightstand," Tatsumi whispered.

            "Close the curtains."

…

            Much later, two men lay wrapped around one another in thoughtless swirls of pale and tanned skin.  The silence between them was welcome, but Watari couldn't resist his own curiosity indefinitely.

            "Seiichirou?"

            "Hm?"

            "Not that I mind this change, but what brought it on?" 

Tatsumi merely looked hesitantly guilty.  "Why now, of all the time we've known each other?" A pause.

"It was the only thing left on my to-do list."

            The resulting pillow fight was entirely merited.


	6. The List Ch 6

"Tatsumi-SAAAAAAN!" rang through the hallway outside the secretary's office on the following morning.

"If he didn't hear _that_…he's not here," noted Saya.

"This could be an excellent opportunity." Yuma added, opening the door.

"Yuuuuuuuma…" Saya began in a cautionary tone, but slipped in behind her partner, who had entered without pausing. The two girls approached the desk once again

"Well, he's been here already. There's the list."

"Let's see what's on today's agenda!" Yuma winked predatorily.

"Oh, dear."

"Cross-reference yearly budgets…Order toner cartridges…Lunch…Reeducate trespassers."

With that, the door clicked loudly closed behind them, and Tatsumi stepped out of the shadow behind it.

"It seems you're early."

Perhaps a dozen hearts hit the floor at once.


End file.
